MONASTIC BUILDINGS

The monastic
buildings are
grouped on the
south side of the church around the cloister and
follow the usual arrangement of the Benedictine
plan, with the chapter house in the east
range and the frater on the south. The
dorter, too, was originally in the usual position
on the first floor of the east range, south of the
chapter house, but was afterwards moved to the
west range, a change of plan perhaps determined
by the fact that the river forms the western
boundary of the site and affords special convenience for drainage, and also possibly by the
west range being on the side farthest from the
town houses. A part of the old east range was
then used as a prison, while the rest was taken
by the prior's lodging. The nature of the site,
which is longer from north to south than from
east to west, also determined the position of the
outer court, which was placed south of the
cloister, and the infirmary stood between the
west range and the river, a position dictated by
convenience. With these variations, and allowing for the inevitable changes to which the
buildings were put after the Dissolution, the
normal arrangements of a Benedictine house can
perhaps be nowhere better studied than at
Durham. Although a certain amount of rebuilding has been done since the 16th century,
especially in the south range, the references to
the various parts of the buildings in ' Rites of
Durham' can generally be followed, and afford
a vivid picture of the life of the monastery in
the years immediately preceding the surrender.

Mention has already been made of work in
the east and south ranges which is earlier than
any part of the existing church, and in all
probability forms part of the buildings begun by
Walcher. According to Simeon, Walcher began
the erection of ' suitable buildings for a dwelling
place of monks,' (fn. 1) but met his death before they
were finished. It is not unlikely, however, that
the existing undercrofts at the south end of the
east range and the east end of the south range,
with the passage between them, were completed
by 1080, and it would seem probable that
Walcher's work was planned round a cloister
about 115 ft. square, the north side of which
was formed by Aldhun's White Church. The
evidence for this was set forth by Sir William
Hope in 1909, (fn. 2) and though not conclusive, as
no trace of Aldhun's church was found, furnishes strong probability that Walcher's buildings were attached to it, and that the east and
south sides of the present cloister preserve the
lines of the first cloister. When the site of the
lavatory opposite the frater door was uncovered
in 1903 the foundations of a 12th-century conduit house were also found, built against an
earlier wall running north and south, which
seems to have been the garth wall of the west
alley of the first cloister. (fn. 3) There is reason to
suppose that the Norman conduit thus stood
in the south-west angle of the early cloister, the
alleys of which would therefore be of the same
width as at present, and from this and other
evidence (fn. 4) the extent of the cloister planned by
Walcher can be deduced. If these deductions
be correct, the south wall of Aldhun's church
must have been some 30 ft. south of that of the
present building, or approximately in a line with
the projection of the vice-turret of the south
transept, (fn. 5) and the west wall of the first west
range would coincide with the east wall of the
existing range, which there are grounds for
believing was built upon it. (fn. 6)

The superstructures of the two undercrofts,
consisting of the dorter in the east and the
frater in the south range respectively, were
probably finished during the exile of St. Calais
(1088–91) if not before, and after the completion
of the existing church the chapter house was
begun probably by Flambard, and completed by
Geoffrey Rufus (1133–40). (fn. 7) In the 12th century the south range appears to have been
extended westward and the west range rebuilt
on its present plan, the dorter then being
moved to it. Part of the walling of this period,
including the dorter stair doorway at the north
end, still remains, but the range was again rebuilt
in the 13th century. To the 13th century also
belongs the prior's chapel at the south-east
corner of the group of buildings now forming
the Deanery at the south end of the east range.
The main structural part of these buildings,
chiefly of 14th-century date, is noticed later;
the existing great kitchen of the monastery was
erected in 1367–70. The cloister was rebuilt in
more or less of its present form at the beginning
of the 15th century, being begun by Skirlaw (fn. 8) (d.
1406) and finished by Langley about 1418. (fn. 9) Of
what immediately preceded it little or nothing is
known, but if Leland (fn. 10) is right in stating that
Pudsey built a cloister it may have subsisted
down to Skirlaw's time. Nothing of it, however, remains, unless some marks on the north
and east walls indicate the lines of its lean-to
roof. (fn. 11) The upper part of the west range was
rebuilt in its present form in 1398–1404, (fn. 12) and
during the same period considerable reconstruction of the prior's lodgings took place. Later
in the century Prior Wessington (1416–46) also
extensively repaired the prior's lodgings and
other parts of the monastery buildings, and
Prior Castell (1494–1519) made further changes,
all of which are noticed later. Castell also rebuilt the gatehouse.

After the Dissolution, apart from the different
uses to which the buildings were put, the chief
change was the rebuilding of the frater, or
'fair large hall' on the upper floor of the south
range, by Dean Sudbury, so as to serve as the
Chapter Library. The hall was described in
1665 as having 'long been useless and ruined,' (fn. 13)
but was finished in its present form soon
after Sudbury's death in 1684. The cloister
was repaired in 1706–11 and on a larger scale in
1764–69; it was again restored in 1856–7. The
dorter was restored in 1849–53, and Dean
Sudbury's Library in 1858, the latter by Salvin.

The CLOISTER is approximately 145 ft.
square, (fn. 14) and is surrounded by covered alleys
about 15 ft. wide, each of eleven bays divided
by buttresses, with a pointed window of three
lights in each bay. The diagonally flagged
pavement of the alleys is of 18th-century date, (fn. 15)
but the flat oak panelled ceilings are substantially
of Skirlaw's and Langley's time, though much
restored in 1828, when many new shields of arms
were introduced. (fn. 16) The original windows were
destroyed in the 18th century, apparently
during the restoration of 1764–9, when the
present uninteresting mullions and uncusped
tracery were substituted. About one-third of
the east side of the cloister is overlapped by the
south transept of the church, beyond which are
the slype (or parlour), chapter house, and a
portion of the early building containing the
prison and the stairs to the first dorter. The
entrance from the outer court is at the end
of the east alley farthest from the church and
opposite the eastern processional doorway.
All the stone wall benches have disappeared,
but there is one along the garth wall in the
east alley. The roofs are flat and lead covered,
behind straight moulded parapets. The north
alley, between the processional doorways, was
probably screened off at both ends, and was
divided by short partition walls into a number
of studies or carrels, (fn. 17) three to each window,
'all fynely wainscotted and veri close, all but
the forepart which had carved wourke that gave
light in at ther carrell doures of wainscott,' (fn. 18)
and over against the carrels against the church
wall were ranged 'great almeries,' or book
cupboards. The church wall has been refaced
in grey stone.

The first doorway in the east alley beyond the
transept is that to the SLYPE, or passage
separating the chapter house from the church,
which gave access to the 'centory garth,' or
cemetery of the monks, and is said to have
been used in the later days as a parlour, to
which merchants were allowed to bring their
wares for sale. (fn. 19) It has a plain barrel vault and
intersecting wall arcades (fn. 20) similar to those of
the chapter house, with which it is contemporary. The doorway has a semicircular arch
of two cheveron moulded orders with label,
the inner order continuous and the outer on
single jamb shafts with cushion capitals, but
the detail has suffered considerably at the
hands of restorers and the cheverons are almost
obliterated: the cheveron also occurs on the
inside of the doorway. The slype now serves
as an ante-room to the chapter house and place
of assembly for the choir on weekdays, and has
a modern doorway to the church cut through
the transept wall and another to the chapter
house. (fn. 21) The east wall is modern, with a single
round-headed window. A staircase, still partly
remaining in the south-west corner, led up to a
room above built in 1414–15 as a library, usually
known as Wessington's Library, though it
appears to have been completed before he
became prior in 1416. Some time between
that year and 1446 he repaired the roof and put
in a large five-light window at each end. Wessington's flat-pitched roof of four bays remains,
but the windows have been wholly renewed.
This upper room is now used as a song
school, access to it being by a modern wooden
staircase. (fn. 22)

The CHAPTER HOUSE is entered from the
cloister by a semicircular headed doorway of
three orders, the two outer on nook-shafts with
cushion capitals and the inner on cushion
capitals and moulded jambs. The two outer
orders (fn. 23) have cheveron ornament, but the inner
is simply moulded; internally there are also
three orders of the same type with nook-shafts
in each jamb, the capitals and abaci of which
are elaborately carved. (fn. 24) On each side of the
doorway, and forming with it a single composition, is a window of two round-headed
lights with cylindrical mid-shaft and plain
tympanum enclosed by a semicircular cheveron
arch on nook-shafts with cushion capitals, the
whole set within a shallow moulded outer order.
These openings were originally unglazed, but
are now filled with fragments of painted glass
from the church. (fn. 25) Before the destruction of
its eastern portion in 1796 the chapter house
was 78 ft. 6 in. in length, with a breadth of
34 ft. 6 in. and an apsidal east end. In the apse
were five three-light windows with flowing
tracery inserted in the 14th century and at the
west end above the cloister roof a large 15thcentury pointed window of five lights, which
still exists in a restored form, but with these
exceptions the building seems to have remained
pretty much as completed in the first half of the
12th century. It consisted of two bays, each
covered by a quadripartite vault, and a third
bay over the apse, the vault of which was set
out by keeping the four western ribs in straight
lines on plan, thus making them of unequal
length and throwing the keystone to the east of
the centre of the apse curve. (fn. 26) The transverse
arches were semicircular, and the ribs of the
vaults had a slightly pointed soffit roll flanked
by cheverons of convex profile: in the apse the
ribs sprang from large figure corbels and the
soffit roll was flanked by a row of star ornaments
and cheverons. (fn. 27) A wall arcade of semicircular
intersecting arches ran round the building,
except at the west end, below which was a stone
bench raised on two steps, and in the middle of
the east wall, standing on a dais, was a contemporary stone chair in which the bishops were
installed. The floor was covered with monumental slabs of the bishops buried beneath it,
including those of St. Calais, Flambard, Geoffrey
Rufus, and Pudsey, and at the west end of the
south wall was a doorway with flat lintel and
semicircular relieving arch similar to those of
the transept turret staircases. (fn. 28) The destruction of its east end reduced the length of the
chapter house to about 35 ft., making it practically a square room. The whole of the vault
was demolished and a new coved roof erected,
cutting across the great west window, the walls
being covered with lath and plaster, and the
windows flanking the west doorway blocked.
In 1830 part of the lath and plaster on the north
side was taken down and the whole was removed
in 1847, when the wall arcades were restored.
In 1857 the west wall, including the doorway
and the window above, was restored, and in
1874 excavations were carried out on the site
of the destroyed part of the building, the floor
of which was exposed and the graves of Bishops
Flambard, Geoffrey Rufus, William de Ste.
Barbe, Robert de Insula, and Kellaw were
opened. (fn. 29)

The rebuilding of 1895–6, under the direction
of Mr. C. Hodgson Fowler, restored the chapter
house to something like its former appearance,
the east end being erected on the old plan,
though the original design of the apse vault
was not followed, and round-headed windows of
12th-century type take the place of the 14th-century windows destroyed by Wyatt. The
height to the crown of the new vault is 44 ft.,
above which is a low-pitched lead-covered roof.
The stone bench and steps round the building
have been reconstructed and the wall arcades
renewed. The removal of the floor in the
western part, constructed in 1796, brought to
light several fragments of early sculptured
crosses, probably of late 10th-century date, and
also the arms of the stone chair, which have been
worked into a new chair in the original position.

The reconstructed doorway (fn. 30) at the west end
of the south wall leads to a small chamber belonging to the earliest buildings, against which
the chapter house was erected. The juxtaposition of the two walls is plainly seen within
the recess of the doorway, the depth of which
is about 5 ft. This chamber, which in the later
days of the monastery was used as a PRISON
for light offences, is about 23 ft. long from west
to east, and 12 ft. wide, and is lighted by a
round-headed window. It has a flat wooden
ceiling, and on its south wall are traces of painting
representing Our Lady in glory, (fn. 31) while in the
north end of the west wall is a triangular-headed
recess. A doorway in the south wall leads to
two smaller chambers, or cells, in the first of
which is a hatch for conveying food to the
prisoner, and in the inner a latrine. These
cells were under the stairs to the first dorter, the
doorway to which still remains in the cloister
wall, together with the first two or three steps
of the staircase itself. The face of the wall here
is of rubble, in contrast with the squared ashlar
north of it, a break, or setback of 14½ in., in
the wall at the south end of the chapter house
marking the junction of Rufus' work with that of
Walcher. The staircase doorway is, however,
an early 12th-century insertion and has been much
restored; it has a semicircular arch of three
orders, the innermost square and the others
with a roll on the edge, springing from moulded
imposts on single nook-shafts with cushion
capitals and moulded bases. (fn. 32) Beyond this,
at the end of the eastern cloister wall, is the
so-called 'Usher's Door,' (fn. 33) a restored 15thcentury pointed doorway with a single continuous hollow moulded order with label, which
opened to 'the entrie in under the Prior's
lodginge, and streight in to the centorie garth.' (fn. 34)
This doorway appears to have replaced one
contemporary with the earlier buildings, for the
passage it leads to has at the end a round-headed
window which may have been the arch of the
doorway to the cemetery. The passage now
communicates by a stair with the Deanery.

The SUB-VAULT OF THE FIRST DORTER,
now a cellar under the entrance-hall of the
Deanery, lies on the east side of the passage from
the cloister to the outer court, from which it was
entered by a doorway now blocked. It is 38 ft.
long from north to south, and 23 ft. wide, and is
divided into two aisles by an arcade of four
semicircular arches supported on short square
piers. The walls are quite plain, and each aisle
is covered by a barrel vault. (fn. 35) The arches are
now closed with masonry and cross walls have
been built to form cellars.

The contemporary passage between this
sub-vault and that of the monks' frater in the
south range has a wall arcade of low roundheaded arches on each side, but the archway
from the cloister is of 15th-century date, with
a continuous hollow-chamfered moulding and
label, while at the south end to the outer court
the entrance is modern. The level of the passage
floor is two steps below that of the cloister.

A doorway in the west wall of the passage
opens into the FRATER SUB-VAULT. This
begins at the east end with a narrow chamber
running north and south the full width of the
range, and covered by a plain barrel vault;
from this a round-arched opening leads to the
main apartment (50 ft. by 32 ft.) running east
and west, which is divided into three aisles by
two rows of short, massive, square piers, four
in each row, supporting a groined vault of the
simplest form, without ribs or transverse arches.
The height to the crown of the vault is only
7 ft. 6 in. The piers have plain abaci chamfered
on the lower edge and there are pilasters of the
same type along the side walls. (fn. 36) To the west
of the main apartment, and opening from it,
are two long narrow chambers like that at the
east end, covered by barrel vaults, and beyond
these again a third of less length. The whole of
the sub-vault was lighted from the south by
small round-headed windows, five in the main
area and one in each of the narrow chambers,
now blocked by the modern passage from the
Deanery to the great kitchen. The extent of
Walcher's work is marked by the thick wall west
of the third chamber, which is now pierced by a
doorway to the later buildings erected against
it. The whole of the north wall on the cloister
side was refaced by Dean Sudbury and all traces
of ancient work obliterated, but a bonding mark
west of the library doorway indicates its term.

The whole of the upper story of the south
range having been rebuilt, no part of the arrangements of the MONKS' FRATER or REFECTORY as set out in Rites(fn. 37) can now be seen
above the sub-vault. The Frater is described
as having been 'a fair large hall finely wainscotted on the north and south side,' and was
entered at the west end from the cloister by a
doorway and staircase in the same position as the
existing library doorway and stair. It was an
aisleless hall about 106 ft. long (fn. 38) by 32 ft. in
width, with timber roof, and the high table at
the east end. The screens, or kitchen passage,
were at the west, and adjoining them a pantry
above the cellar known as the Covey, which
abutted Walcher's basement on the west. Over
the pantry, the roof of which was on a much
lower level than that of the hall, there was a
room known as the Loft, used in later days for
the daily meals of the monks, (fn. 39) who used the
frater only on certain festivals, leaving it on
ordinary days to the novices. (fn. 40) At the west
end of the hall was a stone bench from the
cellar door to the pantry door, (fn. 41) and above the
bench was 'wainscot work two yards and a half
in height, finely carved and set with embroidered
work, and above the wainscot there was a fair
large picture of our Saviour Christ, the Blessed
Mary and St. John, in fine gilt work and excellent
colours.' (fn. 42) The 'picture' had been washed
over in lime, and the wainscot bore an inscription
recording its erection by Prior Castell in July
1518. On the left of the entrance doorway
was a strong aumbry in the stone wall, with 'a
fine work of carved wainscot before it … that
none could perceive that there was any aumbry
at all,' (fn. 43) in which was kept all the chief plate
used in the Frater house on festival days, (fn. 44) and
on the right a large wooden aumbry or cupboard,
'having divers ambries within it, finely wrought
and varnished all over,' which contained the
table linen, salts, mazers, cups and other things
pertaining to the frater house and loft. (fn. 45) The
frater pulpit is referred to as 'a convenyent
place at the south end of the hie table within a
faire glasse wyndour, invyroned with iron, and
certain steppes of stone with iron rayles of the
one side to go up to it and to support an iron
desk there placed'; (fn. 46) here one of the novices
read some part of the Old and New Testament
during dinner time.

The frater is said to have retained the name
of the Petty Canons' Hall till Dr. Sudbury
erected the Library in its place. (fn. 47) Nothing of it
has survived except the wall at the east end,
which is part of the west wall of the first dorter.
The long north and south walls are Sudbury's,
but the tall two-light windows (fn. 48) date only from
1858 and the embattled parapets are also modern.
Sudbury's doorway in the cloister, however,
remains unaltered and is characteristic of the
period, with semicircular keystoned arch below
a classic entablature supported by Doric pilasters
on panelled pedestals. (fn. 49) The oak bookcases
and other furnishings of the Library and of the
librarian's room adjoining it on the west,
which partly occupies the place of the Loft, (fn. 50)
are of Sudbury's time.

Below the librarian's room are the 'Covey'
and a cellar north of it. This cellar, which runs
east and west, has a restored window to the
cloister and a square opening in the middle of its
vault; beside the door leading to it from the
covey is a small opening which has had a small
door and fastenings as if to serve drink from
the cellar to the covey without opening the
door. (fn. 51) Between the cellar and the sub-vault
of the west range is another doorway, now
blocked.

The MONKS' LAVER stood in the cloister
garth 'over against the fraterhouse door,' and
is described in Rites as 'being made in forme
round, covered with lead, and all of marble
saving the verie uttermost walls.' (fn. 52) The basin
had in it 'many little conduits and spouts of
brass, with twenty-four cocks of brass round
about it,' and in the walls were 'seven (fn. 53) fair
windows of stonework' with a dovecote on top
covered with lead. The basin still exists in the
centre of the garth, but is not in its original
position. The foundations of the Laver house
were discovered in 1903, opposite the eighth
bay (from the east) of the garth wall. (fn. 54) There is
reason to believe that the structure was of
13th-century date, (fn. 55) and that it had been joined
to Skirlaw's cloister alley by a short length of
pentise. A statement of accounts still preserved
shows, however, that the basin and trough surrounding it were made in 1432–3 and that the
marble came from Eggleston. (fn. 56) The basin is
wrought from a single block and is octagonal in
form, the sides sloping outwards, each with a
blank shield in the middle and another at each
angle. (fn. 57) It now rests on the ground, but was
no doubt originally raised a convenient height
above the floor of the Lavatory.

The GREAT KITCHEN or MONASTERY
KITCHEN adjoined the frater on the southwest. It is now attached to the Deanery by a
modern passage built against the south side of the
frater sub-vault, and is the only early monastic
kitchen in England still in regular use. (fn. 58) It
communicated originally by a doorway and
passage on the north-east side with one of the
rooms under the Loft, from which food was
carried up to the frater, or to the Loft itself.
A doorway on the east side (now the external
entrance) may have originally communicated
with the prior's lodgings, and another doorway
on the west, now blocked, opened to the
cellarer's chequer, which adjoined it on that
side. This building was later absorbed into
one of the canons' houses and was pulled down
in 1849. (fn. 59)

The kitchen is a semi-detached building,
generally described as octagonal, but built in
reality on a square plan with fireplaces at the
angles, the arches of which support an octagonal
superstructure and vaulted roof, the smoke
from the fireplaces being conveyed through flues
to a central louvre. The bursar's rolls for the
period 1366–71 set out the cost of making 'the
new kitchen,' but whether it took the place of
one on the same site can only be conjectured.
The main structure at least appears to have been
completed in Fossor's time, but it was not
finished in its present form till the episcopate
of Langley (1406–37), who contributed largely
to the work. (fn. 60) Internally the octagon is
36 ft. 8 in. in diameter and is covered with a
vault consisting of eight semicircular ribs, each
extending over three of its sides, the space left
within their intersection (14 ft. in diameter)
forming the lantern. The ribs are chamfered
and spring from moulded corbels in the angles
high up in the walls; the wall ribs are sharply
pointed. The openings of the louvre were not
filled with glass till 1507. (fn. 61) The six sides, other
than the east and west doorways, have each a
chimney, one of which (on the north-east) was
used as a curing-room. The principal fireplaces
were north and south, but the former is now
modernised. The other sides show remains of
fireplaces of different kinds, and there are small
larders, or store-rooms, behind the fireplaces
in the south-east and south-west angles in the
thickness of the walling. (fn. 62) About 1752 Dean
Cowper put two 'gothick windows' in the
kitchen on the south side, and these still afford
the principal means of lighting. (fn. 63) Externally
the kitchen has angle buttresses and finishes
with an embattled parapet, with a series of
gabled roofs over the vault abutting on the
louvre. The flanking structures on the east
side have been modernised with larder below
and bedrooms above. The Treasurer's chequer
was a 'little stone building' between the kitchen
and the Deanery, erected before 1371. (fn. 64)

The GREAT DORTER or DORMITORY
occupied the whole of the upper floor of the
west range, the south end of which overlapped
the frater some 20 ft. The early 13th-century
SUB-VAULT OF THE DORTER is a good
example of the work of the period and remains
substantially unaltered. It is about 194 ft.
long and 39 ft. wide internally, and is vaulted in
twelve bays of two spans, divided by a central
row of circular pillars with moulded capitals
and bases. Each bay is thus covered by two
plain quadripartite compartments, about 15 ft.
in height to the crown, with pointed transverse
and wall ribs. There are half-round responds,
similar in detail to the piers, against the walls.
The floor is five steps below that of the cloister
alley. The sub-vault was originally divided into
a treasury (in the bay next the church), the
common house, (fn. 65) a passage from the cloister
to the infirmary, while the four southern bays
contained the great cellar or buttery with entrances at one end from the infirmary passage
and at the other from the cellarer's checker and
the kitchen buildings. There was a window in
each bay on the west, but none of the original
openings remain, all the existing windows being
modern. Of these divisions only the treasury (fn. 66)
remains, being still separated from the rest by a
thick wall. It is entered from the cloister by a
pointed doorway with a single continuous order,
probably a 15th-century insertion, in which are
still the 'strong door and two locks' mentioned
in Rites. The 'strong iron grate' within
also remains. Here the muniments of the convent were kept until quite recent times, when
they were removed to the room over the gatehouse. In the cloister 'over against the treasury house door' the novices were taught, for
whom there was a 'fair stall of wainscott' and
their master had a seat opposite on the south side
of the doorway. (fn. 67)

The Common House had 'a fyre keapt in
yt all wynter, for the mounckes to cume and
warme them at, being allowed no fyre but
that onely,' and belonging to it was a garden
and bowling alley, 'on the backside of the said
house towards the water, for the novyces
sume tymes to recreat themeselves.' (fn. 68) All traces
of the fireplace, as well as of the dividing walls,
have disappeared, but the garden and bowling
alley still exist in a modern form on the west
side. The common house appears to have been
entered at its south end from the infirmary
passage, on the other side of which was the
'great cellar' of Rites entered from a doorway,
now blocked, at the foot of the stair to the
loft; the buttery was probably in the end bay.
The infirmary passage occupied the eighth bay
from the north, but the doorway from the cloister
is a later insertion with a single continuous
moulded order; the passage walls have disappeared and a wide modern opening has been
made in the west wall. The present arrangement is that the eight southern bays of the subvault form a single apartment, in which (at the
north end) are preserved a large number of
mediaeval grave covers and moulded and carved
stones of various kinds from the cathedral and
other churches in the county. (fn. 69) The two bays
north of this (third and fourth from north) are
now used as vestries for the choir men and boys,
with a single modern doorway, and that next
the treasury is the minor canons' vestry, the
doorway of which has a flat four-centred head
in one stone. (fn. 70)

The entrance to the DORTER or DORMITORY was at the north end by a stair from the
cloister, close to the church, in the recess formed
by the projection of the south-west tower.
The doorway and the wall in which it is set
belong to the 12th-century west range, and a
round-headed opening, now blocked, still remains
in a portion of this older walling on the west
side overlooking the garden. The doorway has
a semicircular arch of three moulded orders, the
two inner on jamb shafts with cushion capitals,
the outer resting on extended imposts. The
whole surface has been pared down and the
label and outer order cut away.

The dorter was divided by wainscot partitions
into a series of cubicles, or 'little chambers,'
with a passage down the middle. Each cubicle
was lighted by a window (fn. 71) and contained a desk,
while in the wall above on each side were widely
spaced two-light pointed windows lighting the
whole of the apartment. The lower windows
are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights
divided by a transom, and all are restorations;
the upper windows have cinquefoiled lights,
vertical tracery and labels. (fn. 72) At the south end
is a modern pointed window of five lights below
a plain flat-pitched gable, and the side walls
have embattled parapets on corbel tables. The
dorter still retains its original open roof with
plain oak principals, barely touched by the axe, (fn. 73)
wall pieces on stone corbels, and struts, the
span of which is 41 ft. The upper windows occur
in every third bay. The novices occupied the
south end, 'having eight chambers on each
side … not so close nor so warme as the
other chambers,' there being no windows to give
light 'but as it came in at the foreside.' (fn. 74) The
middle passage was paved with 'fine tyled
stone,' which in part remained till past the
middle of the 19th century, (fn. 75) and at either end
of the dorter was a large four-square cresset
stone each with a dozen bowls. The sub-prior's
chamber was 'the first in the dorter for
seinge of good order keapt.' (fn. 76) A doorway at the
north end, now blocked, opened into the church
under the south-west tower, and led probably
by a wooden gallery by another doorway into
the tower staircase and so to the church itself. (fn. 77)
The original fittings have disappeared and the
room is now used as a part of the Chapter
Library, bookcases being placed along the walls
below the upper windows. The room also
contains a series of Roman altars and inscribed
stones from Lanchester and other stations in the
county, and on the line of the Roman wall, a
collection of crosses, grave-slabs and other work
of pre-Conquest date, and the relics from St.
Cuthbert's tomb. At the south end of the east
wall a modern doorway opens to the Librarian's
Room, in the position of the Loft, which formed
the dining room of one of the prebendal houses
constructed partly in the south end of the
dorter. (fn. 78)

The RERE-DORTER was a 'faire large
house and most decent place adjoining to the
west of the dorter towards the water … which
was made with two great pillars of stone that
did bear up the whole floore thereof, and every
seat and partition was of wainscot.' (fn. 79) Each
seat had a window, but these were afterwards
walled up 'to make the house more close,' and
in the west end were three glass windows and
on the south another, above the seats which
gave light to the whole. (fn. 80) This building, lying
at right angles with the dorter, opposite the
sixth and seventh bays of the sub-vault (from
the north), is shown in part on Carter's plan;
it appears to have been about 68 ft. long from
west to east internally by about 30 ft. wide,
with a ground floor passage between it and the
dorter. The pit remains, with an outlet westward, (fn. 81) and the south wall of the structure still
stands as high as the sills of the little windows,
forming the north wall of the stables built over
the 'lyng house,' which adjoined the reredorter on that side. (fn. 82)

The 'lyng house' was a strong prison for
great offenders, described in Rites as within
the INFIRMARY underneath the master's
chamber. (fn. 83) The upper building is shown on
Carter's plan running east and west opposite
the passage through the sub-vault, but it had
been greatly altered after the Dissolution and
converted into stables. It was about 60 ft.
long by 40 ft. wide and the prison was in the
basement. In clearing this during 1890–95 the
floor was found to be 23 ft. below the present
ground level. The chamber is 24 ft. 3 in. long
and had a barrel vault supported by wall
arcades 'made up of older material, some of
the capitals of the shafts being of 12th-century, and others of 13th-century date.' (fn. 84) The
entrance was by a round-headed doorway (fn. 85)
on the south leading into a vaulted passage
carried along that side of the building to the
west end 'where a newel staircase with a projecting turret ascends into an upper room on the
level of the stable floor,' (fn. 86) no doubt the master
of the infirmary's chamber. This room was
lighted by a round-headed window, now blocked,
in the west gable, but with this exception no
part of the infirmary remains. Its site was
south of the rere-dorter and south-west of the
dorter range. In it was a room known as the
Dead Man's chamber (fn. 87) and adjoining it a chapel
dedicated to St. Andrew.

Excavations in 1890 under the monk's garden
revealed a passage commencing at a depth of
about 30 ft. at the north-west corner of the
stables and rising with a gradual ascent to the
south wall of the Galilee, into which it formerly
had access. This passage has a barrel vault
and is lighted by three narrow slits with sloped
sills in the west wall, which abuts upon the river
bank; the east wall is blank. (fn. 88)

The GUEST HOUSE was within the abbey
garth 'on the west side towards the water,'
south of the infirmary and south-west of the
kitchen. (fn. 89) The hall is described as 'a goodly
brave place, much like unto the body of a
church, with very fair pillers supporting it on
ether syde and in the mydest of the haule a
most large raunge for the fyer.' (fn. 90) The chambers and lodgings were 'swetly keapt and richly
furnyshed,' especially one chamber called the
King's Chamber 'deservinge that name in that
the king himselfe myght verie well have lyne in
yt.' Some walling of 12th-century date remains
in the house built on the site on its north and
west sides and in the interior, but the only
apartment that has survived is a vaulted basement, now used as a kitchen. The vault is
in three bays of two spans, supported by two
pillars with moulded capitals. (fn. 91)

The PRIOR'S LODGING, now the
DEANERY, was built eastward of and incorporating the early dorter at the south end of the
east range. Assuming that the dorter was abandoned before or about 1140, it is reasonable to
suppose that this part of the monastic buildings
would then, or soon after, be handed over to
the prior, and that he constructed various
chambers to the east of it. To these a chapel
was attached in the 13th century in the southeast corner, but in the existing buildings nothing
between the chapel and the old dorter is earlier
than the 14th century, the intervening rooms
having presumably been rebuilt at that period,
and they have been altered more than once
since. The many references in the Rolls of the
Convent to work done in the prior's lodging are
tantalisingly vague and Rites has little to
say about this part of the monastery. The
earliest rolls do not begin until 1278, at which
time there was glass in the prior's rooms, and
Graystanes mentions the prior's chamber twenty
years earlier. The checker of the prior's chaplain
was 'over the stairs as you go up to the Dean's
hall … and his chamber was next to the
prior's chamber,' (fn. 92) but neither room can be
identified. (fn. 93) Of the date of the erection of the
chapel there is no record, and its attribution to
Prior Melsonby (1233–44) is conjectural. Fossor
did a great deal of work in the monastery buildings, but it is not specifically stated that 'the
two separate chambers, namely, the high chamber and the low one,' were in the prior's lodging,
though probably they were. In Wessington's
time a sum of £419 was expended 'for construction and repairs of various chambers belonging to the Prior,' but no details of the work done
are given. The Deanery is said to have been
'very much improved' by Dean Comber
(1691–99) who 'built a new apartment to it,' (fn. 94)
but this cannot be located, and no adequate
record has been kept even of the 18th-century
reconstructions and alterations.

The detail of the chapel is very simple and in
striking contrast to Melsonby's work in the Nine
Altars; though apparently early in the pointed
style, it is possible the work may be as late as
the middle of the 13th century. The chapel
was internally about 50 ft. long from west to east
by about 16 ft. wide, over a vaulted basement,
and stands in front of the face of the main
building, which it overlaps at the east end about
20 ft. The upper part, or chapel proper, has
been divided up and turned to domestic uses,
but the sub-vault remains substantially unaltered. In 1914–15 it was fitted up as a chapel
by Dean Henson and later used by the women
students of St. Mary's College, and the windows
were opened out. It is of four bays, each covered
by a single quadripartite vault, with pointed
wall-ribs and transverse arches, springing from
half-round responds against the side walls, with
moulded capitals and bases. The height of the
vault is about 11 ft. and the ribs are chamfered.
This apartment ('the chamber under the vault')
was lighted by four narrow windows with wide
internal splays on the south side, one at the
east end of the north wall, and one at the east
end, and the entrance is at the west end from
the garden. The windows were made squareheaded after the Dissolution and so remain.
The west doorway has a pointed continuous
chamfered arch with hood mould, and there is
also a door at the west end of the north wall
from the lower floor of the house. The entrances
to the chapel above were in the same relative
positions, the internal one directly from the
prior's solar (camera superior) and the other
from the outside, the method of access to which
is no longer apparent. It was probably reached
by a wooden stairway, but all traces of this or
any other means of approach have long since
disappeared. The doorway is of two orders with
hood-mould, the outer order moulded on jamb
shafts. Above in the west wall are two tall
lancets, now blocked, and at the east end two
similar windows. The eastern windows are
deeply recessed, with an outer order carried on
jamb shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and
are widely spaced, the wall between being now
rebuilt as a chimney in a way which makes it
difficult to determine whether there was originally
a middle opening. On the south side all the
original windows of the chapel have disappeared,
five large square-headed sash windows having
been inserted on each floor in the 18th century,
but in the overlapping north wall are the
remains of two grouped lancets, placed lower
than those at the east end, which suggest that
originally the windows on the south may have
been in pairs. Externally the chapel has wide
flat clasping buttresses at the angles, and there
have been buttresses on the south side and at
the ends. The conversion of the chapel into
rooms took place in the 18th century, when a
floor was inserted and two sitting-rooms with
a smaller room between were formed on the
lower floor and four smaller rooms on the floor
above. These are all lighted from the south
by the sash windows already named, and the
lower rooms have fireplaces with carved mantels
in the end walls. The date of these alterations
is not known, but they may have been the work
of Dean Cowper (1746–74). The chapel fabric
now has a straight parapet and flat-pitched leaded
roof; the original roof has been destroyed and
all traces of the chapel internally have been
obliterated.

DEANERY. DURHAM: GROUND PLAN

Ground Plan of the Deanery, Durham
(Reproduced by permission from Dean Kitchin's Story of the Deanery, Durham)

The main part of the building between the
chapel and the great hall consisted of the prior's
solar, or camera superior, on the principal floor,
with the camera inferior, or servants' hall, under
it. The former was a lofty apartment about
62 ft. long from west to east and 22 ft. in width.
It now forms the drawing-room of the Deanery,
but its east end, which overlaps the chapel some
16 ft., has been partitioned off as a lobby. The
drawing-room is thus 46 ft. long, and in its
present aspect dates from the 18th century and
later, but its walls are ancient. The south or
outer wall is of 14th-century date, probably
Prior Fossor's reconstruction of a former building erected against the old rere-dorter, the south
wall of which, with its pit, was retained, and still
forms the inner wall of the drawing-room and
hall below. Whatever the original appearance of
the prior's camera, it seems to have been a good
deal altered late in the 15th century, or early in
the 16th, when a fine flat-pitched, open-timbered roof of oak was erected and lofty windows
with vertical tracery inserted, some indications of
which still remain outside. (fn. 95) This roof is still
in position, but hidden by a later plaster ceiling,
except at the east end, where it is visible over the
lobby. In the south wall, near its east end, is a
vice turret by which direct access was obtained
from the servants' hall to the prior's camera and
thence to the roof. The turret projects externally
as a half octagon and terminates above the parapet with a short pyramidal roof. It is of 14th-century date, and the doorway in the lower room
has a continuous moulded shouldered arch: the
opening in the upper room is now covered by
panelling, but can still be used. The present
four great square-headed sash windows were put
in by Dean Cowper about 1748–49, (fn. 96) but the
coved plaster ceiling appears to be subsequent to
Cowper's time (1746–74), as a panel with his
arms is now above it at the west end of the
room. (fn. 97) The fireplace is modern.

The camera inferior has been modernised, and
except for the doorway to the vice is architecturally uninteresting. Partition walls now divide it
into three, and the windows have been enlarged
and made into sashes. It has a flat ceiling. On
this floor the double wall of the old rere-dorter,
enclosing the pit of the latrines, stands clear its
full width from the wall of the old dorter range,
with a passage between; on the floor above it has
been cut through at the ends, perhaps in the 17th
century, to form a passage-way through the
house. The site of the rere-dorter is now
occupied by rooms which in their present
aspect are of comparatively modern date, but
probably took shape in the 15th century. They
consist of a morning room (28 ft. by 20 ft.), and a
smaller room opening from it at the east end, but
are without architectural interest. (fn. 98)

Immediately north of the chapel was the minor
camera of the prior, (fn. 99) now the Dean's library,
and to the north of this again, and originally
communicating with it, a room called 'King
James's Room,' (fn. 100) but probably in the first instance the prior's sleeping chamber. Both these
rooms appear to have been originally of 14thcentury date, and their outer walls, including a
buttress on the east side and part of a window on
the north, (fn. 101) are still largely of that period, but the
outer wall of the library was rebuilt in its present
form, with a bay window, early in the 19th century, when an external stone staircase to the
garden was erected. (fn. 102) The library (28 ft. by
22 ft.) has an oak ceiling of four bays, probably of
late 15th-century date, the main beams carried on
stone corbels and shaped wall pieces, each bay
having three panelled compartments with carved
bosses at the intersection of the ribs. The fireplace is modern.

The ceiling of King James's Room is of
panelled oak, with a series of carved bosses and
shields at the intersections of the ribs. On one
of the shields is Prior Castell's badge of the
winged heart pierced by a sword, and others have
the arms of the See and of the prior and chapter.
The work is apparently of Castell's time, (fn. 103) and
may be as late as the second decade of the 16th
century. (fn. 104) The carved bosses include the sacred
monogram, the Agnus Dei, the cross of thorns,
Tudor rose (repeated), chained hart, fleur-delys, three rabbits nibbling at fruit, and other
subjects. Below the ceiling is an embattled
cornice with deep-cut flowing floral pattern on
the underside. The bedrooms over the Library
and King's Room are without interest, but the
chamfered wall pieces of an old roof, apparently
of early 16th-century date, remain on both sides.
Probably the whole of this floor was originally
one room, but it is divided into four, with a
passage on the west side connecting the rooms
over the chapel with a staircase on the north side
of the house. To the west of this staircase are
three bedrooms opening from one another over
the rooms north of the drawing-room. All the
internal arrangements and the windows on this
floor are 18th-century or later, though the outer
walls are old. The basement story of the block
north of the chapel has been modernised, and
contains a laundry and coal cellar with a passage
between. From this a trap door opens to a
large stone-built chamber, or cesspool, 12 ft.
deep, divided by a semicircular arch into two
bays, with a flanking arch over each. This
chamber, which is 8 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft., has a roundheaded opening, now blocked, on the east side,
and may have been the cesspool connected with
the early buildings on the east side of the cloister,
though it is some 30 ft. east of the old reredorter. It was perhaps used later in connexion
with the prior's privy chamber.

The Great Hall of the prior's lodging, as
already stated, was formed from the old dorter
by lengthening it at the north end up to the
chapter house, so as to include the dorter stairs
and landing. Since the days of the deans the
Great Hall has been divided horizontally by the
insertion of a floor over rather more than half its
length, providing bedrooms in the upper part,
and vertically by the erection of a partition on
the ground floor, and has thus lost all its ancient
characteristics. The side walls belong to the
Norman building, and on the west, overlooking
the cloister, is still a round-headed window, now
blocked, but no other features of this period
survive. The modern doorway on the east side,
which opens on to a lobby between the Great
Hall and the northern apartments, is, however,
in the same position as the original doorway to
the rere-dorter. Above this is a blocked squareheaded three-light window of 15th-century date,
and there is another, blocked in its lower part,
on the west side, the upper portion of which
lights one of the bedrooms. The hood mould of
another opening still remains on this side above a
modern sash window. Prior Fossor placed a
window at the south end of the hall, but the
existing window in that position is a restoration
of a four-light square-headed opening which
replaced the earlier one in 1476, (fn. 105) and the other
windows and the oak roof were probably erected
a few years later. (fn. 106) It is almost certain that the
Great Hall was re-roofed and otherwise altered
about this time, assuming then the aspect it
retained until the Dissolution, but there are no
records of actual work done. As then reconstructed, the Hall must have been a very noble
apartment, lighted by great windows on either
side at its north end, some 13 ft. above the floor,
and by a large window in the south end. In
length it was about 75 ft. and in width 24 ft.,
with a height of about 40 ft., but the floor was
raised four steps some 10 ft. from the south end
so as to clear the vault of the undercroft. The
15th-century roof still remains over the whole of
this space, but can be seen only from the inner
hall at the south end, the remainder being hidden
by the flat plaster ceilings of the bedrooms. The
north end of the Great Hall, now the dining hall
of the Deanery (42 ft. by 24 ft.), has a plaster
ceiling imitating oak, and is lighted by three
modern windows on the east side. The south
end, now the Inner Hall, is panelled all round
with two tiers of late 15th or early 16th century
oak traceried panelling, and the partition dividing it from the dining hall has three tiers of
similar panelling with plaster above. Dean
Kitchin was of opinion that all this panelling
was the wainscot from the monks' frater reerected here by Dean Sudbury when he converted the frater into the chapter library, (fn. 107) and if
so it dates from 1518. The tracery of the
wainscot was from time to time replaced by
sham work in painted putty or plaster, but has
since been restored in oak. (fn. 108) Modern doorways
on the west side of the inner hall open to the
Chapter Library and to the passage to the
kitchen. The Great Hall had a buttery attached to it, but its position cannot be accurately
located; it may have been to the south-west of
the Hall, approximately where the modern
butler's pantry, built by Dean Waddington over
the passage to the cloister, now stands.

The GATEHOUSE, on the east side of the
abbey garth, still remains in a very perfect condition, though restored. The gateway proper is
set in the middle of the entrance passage, and
has the usual greater and lesser doorways. The
outer porch, as well as the gate hall, has a vaulted
roof of quadripartite form with ridge ribs and
tiercons, the boss in the porch being carved
with the arms of the See of Durham, borne by
an angel, while that of the inner compartment
has the badge of Prior Castell. Each compartment has a wall arcade of three plain chamfered
arches, and the great arch at each end of the
entrance passage is a pointed one of two continuous chamfered orders. The upper story is
lighted at each end by a four-centred three-light
window with vertical tracery, and terminates in
a flat-pitched gable. Both windows are modern
restorations, and the upper part of the walling is
much rebuilt. On the east side, facing the Bailey,
are two empty canopied niches—one on each
side of the window. (fn. 109) In the room over the
archway Castell renewed the former chapel of
St. Helen and the sleeping room of its priest.
After the Dissolution the room was used for a
long time as the exchequer of the Dean and
Chapter, (fn. 110) and it is now the treasury. On the
north side of the Gatehouse was a building containing a loft, where the children of the Almery
'had diet' at the cost of the convent. The loft
had a 'long porche over the stairhead, slated
over, and at either side of the porch or entry
there was a stair to go up to it and a stable underneath it.' (fn. 111) After the Dissolution this building
was converted into a dwelling-house for the first
prebendary of the sixth stall, when the stairs were
taken down and the stable made into a kitchen. (fn. 112)

The CHAMBERLAIN'S EXCHEQUER was
to the north-west of the Gatehouse. It was
rebuilt as the residence of the prebendary of the
first stall, and again in part by Dr. J. Bowles
(1712–21). (fn. 113) The chamberlain 'kept a tailor
daily at work in a shop underneath the Exchequer,' and at the back was a walled garden
called Paradise. An infirmary for lay folk with its
own chapel stood outside the monastery gate. (fn. 114)

Footnotes

3. The rubble foundations of this wall, 2 ft. 10 in.
wide, run across the cloister in a northerly direction
from nearly opposite the third buttress from the southwest angle. It was laid bare for about 30 ft. and traced
for 24 ft. 6 in. further; Arch. lviii, 444.

4. The distance from the old walling on the east side
of the cloister to the bonding mark on the south side
beyond the library doorway, which marks the extent
of the early undercroft, is almost exactly 115 ft.
Other evidence is set out in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond.
(2nd ser.), xxii, 417–21.

5. Sir William Hope pointed out that the chapter
house does not occupy the middle of the east wall
of the existing cloister as it normally should, but
is exactly in the middle of the east side of the first
cloister assuming it to have been 115 ft. square. From
this he inferred that it is an enlargement of an older
chapter house on the same site, which abutted the
south transept of Aldhun's church; ibid. 420.

15. The flags are of Yorkshire stone laid on sleeper
walls of brickwork built lattice fashion in plan,
so as to leave a space of about 18 in. beneath
the slabs; Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond. (2nd ser.), xxii,
422.

16. 'In consequence of the mistake as to the source of
the arms engraved on the two armorial plates in
Surtees' History the whole work was carried out in a
very inaccurate and misleading way'; Boyle, Guide
to Durh. 211.

21. The partitions which till lately divided it into
three have been removed.

22. Carter's plan (1801) shows an earlier staircase
starting from within the west doorway. The present
staircase was erected between 1897 and 1904, at
which latter date the slype was restored.

23. The outermost is covered by a later segmental
arch with four-leaf flowers in the hollow moulding.

24. Upon one of the capitals is a centaur shooting
with bow and arrow.

25. The glass was for long in the staircase window
of the house formerly occupied by the prebendary
of the second stall and has only recently been placed
in the chapter house. It is described in Boyle,
Guide to Durh. 365. It includes a 14th-century
figure of St. Leonard, probably the one mentioned in
Rites as in the south transept; but there was
another in the destroyed revestry south of the quire.
There are also 14th, 15th and 16th century quarrels
and fragments.

32. The shafts are modern restorations. The impost
moulding remains in its entirety on the inner faces
of the jambs, but has been mutilated on the outer side,
apparently when the opening was blocked. It is now
opened out and is fitted with a door, which gives on
to the remains of the stairs.

33. 'Here probably the gentleman usher waited to
attend the prior to the church, as the verger still
waits for the dean'; Fowler's notes in Rites, 256.

39. 'And also there was a door in the west end of the
frater within the frater house door where the old
monkes or convent went in, and so up a greese with
an iron rail to hold them by, that went up into a loft
(which was at the west end of the frater house)
wherein the said convent and monks did all dine and
sup together, the sub-prior did always sitt at the upper
end of the table as chief; and at the greese foot
there was another door that went into the great
cellar or buttery, where all the drink did stand that
did serve the Prior and all the whole convent of monks,
having their meal served to them in at a dresser
window from the great kitchen through the Frater
House into a loft above the cellar'; Rites, 87.
This, of course, describes the order and arrangement
in the 16th century. It cannot now be seen how the
monks went up from the frater house door into the
loft, as the steps are gone; ibid. Fowler's notes in
Rites, 269.

40. 'Within the Frater House the prior and the whole
convent of the monks held their great feast of St.
Cuthbert's day in Lent … Also in the east end
of the frater house stoode a fair table with a decent
skrene of wainscott over it, being keapt all the rest
of the yeare for the master of the novices and the
novices to dyn and sup in'; Rites, 32.

41. 'A fair long bench of hewn stone in mason work
to sitt on which is from the sellar door to the pantry
or covey door'; ibid. 80. The cellar door and the
covey door are still to be seen blocked up in the cellar
and pantry, but not in the library where they are
concealed by wainscot; ibid. Fowler's notes, 258.

44. This included 'a goodly great mazer called
Judas Cupp' which was used only on Maundy Thursday, when the prior and the whole convent met in
the frater, and a cup called Saint Bede's Bowl;
Rites, 80.

45. An inventory of the plate, drawn up in 1446, is
printed in Rites, 81.

46. Ibid. 82. The base of the pulpit was identified
by Sir William Hope, built against the south wall
outside and covering three bays; it is below the
present passage from the kitchen to the Deanery;
ibid. Fowler's notes, 260.

48. They have four-centred heads and cinquefoiled
lights; no attempt was made to reproduce Sudbury's
windows.

49. The building of the Library was not finished at
the time of Sudbury's death in 1684, but he left
instructions in his will for its completion by his
executors.

50. After the Dissolution the loft was made the
dining room of the fifth prebend's house, and after
the suppression of six of the prebendaries it was converted to its present purpose; Rites, Fowler's notes,
269.

53. This shows that it was octagonal externally, the
eighth side containing the entrance from the cloister
alley, to which it was attached. 'The building appears
not to have been vaulted, but to have had a wooden
ceiling surmounted by a pyramidal roof covered with
lead and containing a dovecote'; Hope, Arch.
lviii, 447. The dovecote was probably a later
addition.

54. The foundations of a small 12th-century lavatory
were also found on the same site, as already stated,
together with a channel for the lead pipe and a well
of the same period. The discoveries then made are
fully described by Sir William Hope in Arch. lviii,
444–57.

65. It is not clear how many bays were occupied by
the Common House. The two bays next to the
Treasury appear to have been the Song School of
Rites, 'a convenient room for the instructor of the
boys for the use of the quire,' and probably the next
four bays were the Common House.

66. 'A strong howse called the Treasure Howse where
all the tresure of the house did lie'; Rites, 84.

69. Greenwell, op. cit. 101. The south end serves
as a public way from the cloister to the outer court
(College Green) by a modern doorway in the south
wall.

70. It is a restoration, but apparently is a copy of the
old doorway, perhaps of early 16th-century date.
Carter's plan shows a door here, but not in the fourth
bay, where the choir vestry door now is.

71. 'Every windowe serving for one chamber, by
reason the particion betwixt every chamber was close
wainscotted one from another'; Rites, 85.

72. The lower windows are without labels. 'The
present windows to a great extent occupy the places
of the old ones'; Rites, Fowler's notes, 265.
There are fifteen lower windows facing the cloister and
six upper ones.

81. There was no watercourse, and some method of
flushing from the conduit must have been adopted;
ibid. Fowler's notes, 266.

82. Ibid. 266: 'The stables have a hay-loft over in
which the window sills are visible. In an oil painting
of the castle, probably of the 16th or 17th century,
the rere-dorter and a larger building to the south are
shown standing roofed and with windows of late
character as though they had been adapted to later
uses.'

87. The body of a deceased monk was taken first
to the Dead Man's Chamber, where it remained till
night, and was then removed to the chapel where it
lay till 8 o'clock the following morning, at which hour
the corpse was conveyed to the Chapter House and
from there through the parlour to the cemetery southeast of the church; Rites, 51.

89. 'The house now (1903) occupied by the Professor
of Divinity stands on the site with which it corresponds
very nearly in length and breadth. … The entry
by the Dark Passage to the Banks is along its north
side'; Rites, Fowler's notes, 272. This was the
third prebend's house. The date of its erection is
unknown, but it was improved by Dr. James Finney
(1694–1726), and rebuilt in its present form by Dr.
Prosser about 1808; ibid. 159. In Bek's general
view of Durham (Bod. Lib.) it is shown as a lofty
mansion with a long row of dormer windows; ibid.
296.

96. He is said at this time to have 'pulled down an old
part of the Deanery, next the garden facing the south,'
and to have 'rebuilt the same in a handsome manner,'
but Dean Kitchin points out that this refers to the
staircase leading from the front door to the outer hall;
op. cit. 71.

97. The panel is figured in Kitchin, op. cit. 52. It
has the arms of Cowper impaling Townshend. Dean
Spencer Cowper married Lady Dorothy Townshend.

98. These rooms were altered and improved by Dean
Cowper about 1748–9; Kitchin, op. cit. 71. They
may have been part of the work done in Wessington's
time.

100. From King James VI of Scotland having slept
there in April 1603 on his way to London.

101. In the basement story; it is the top of a pointed
window of two cinquefoiled lights with an elongated
trefoil in the head.

102. A drawing of the east front of the Deanery by
Robert Surtees, c. 1810 (reproduced in Kitchin's
Deanery, 55), shows a kind of large entrance porch in
the angle of the chapel and library and a modern
gabled addition immediately north of the buttress.
These were pulled down when the east wall of the
library was rebuilt. The library is shown in the
sketch as lighted by two four-centred windows with
square labels.

103. Whether this is its first position has been questioned. Dean Kitchin says: 'It shows signs of a
juncture across the middle; it has been suggested
that it was originally the roofing of two rooms transferred here at some later time' (Kitchin, op. cit. 62).

111.
Rites, 91. MS. of 1656. The food for the
children was served from a window in the covey near
the kitchen, and carried to the loft by the gatehouse.

112.
Rites of Durh. (Hunter's 2nd ed.), 106. The loft
was made into a buttery. The house was partly
rebuilt by Richard Wrench (1660–75), being 'much
ruined in the Rebellion'; Fowler's Rites, 159. Early
walling remains in the basement; ibid. 296.

113. The existing house bears Bishop Egerton's arms
(1771–87), and therefore was rebuilt or repaired in his
time.